TO BE SEEN
by winter-willow
Summary: how far would you go just to be seen? some people are always seen or at least that's what you think. what if they were the ones who stood in a room full of people and felt completely alone. how far do you think they would go just to be seen. and what
1. Default Chapter

Chapter 1.

It was 4am. _Only 6 more hours to go before I can get on the train and put this summer behind me._ Hermione shifted her backpack so it could cushion her head on the bench as she laid down. _Just 6 more hours_. Hermione's eyes drifted closed and her breathing slowed as she fell into a fitful sleep.

Draco watched as the dark haired beauty shifted her backpack so it could become a pillow and stood against the wall buried deep in the shadows while she fell asleep. After a few minutes the young blonde man slid from the shadows. Looking like a vampire, with skin so pale, he pulled his green and silver trunk over to where the girls' red and gold sat. For a full minute he stood there looking down at the girl. _She's so beautiful. _Making up his mind Draco quickly took off his leather coat and moved her backpack down by the edge of the bench while he sat down and gently laid her head in his lap cushioned by his coat. Lulled by the rhythm of her breathing Draco slowly nodded off to sleep.

"Bloody hell, Ron. What do you have in your trunk?" Harry asked as he dragged both his and his best friend's trunk over to the luggage car.

Ron trailed behind him with a slight smirk on his face. "Oh nothing really, Fred and George just want me to test out some new products at the school. On Snape to be exact. And you know I really just couldn't find a way to say no to that idea."

Harry laughed as he turned around, "I assume that I am also involved in this little project?"

Ron clapped him on the back as they walked over to the crowd of students waiting to get on the train. "Only if you want to. But just remember what Fred and George can do to you if you refuse..." he trailed off as he noticed a beautiful girl off to the side of the platform sleeping on a bench. "Merlin, she's beautiful."

Harry took a step back and glanced over at the sleeping girl who had left his friend speechless. "Yeah, she is...but you know there is something kind of familiar about her..." he broke off suddenly as he noticed whose lap the girl was sleeping on, "she may be beautiful Ron but if she's sleeping on Malfoy's lap then you don't want her."

Ron's eyes shifted from the girl to the silver headed boy she was sleeping on, "Oh well. Merlin I hate that git."

"Come on Ron, let's find Hermione and get a compartment before they all get filled up." Harry said as he stepped up onto the train. "You never know mate, maybe no one will wake Malfoy and he'll miss the train."

Ron laughed as he followed his friend up onto the train with one last look at the girl. _Too bad. _


	2. 02

Chapter 2.

It was only five minutes until the train left and a man dressed in shabby and torn robes came running through the barrier and up onto the open doorway of the compartment. Just as he was fixing to go inside he glanced to the right for no reason except that his sense's told him to. He saw the two sleeping students and feeling a sense of duty he stepped back off the train and walked over to the occupied bench. As he reached it he felt a sense of shock run through his body as he recognized the two students. _Hermione sleeping next to Draco Malfoy? What was going on here?_

He reached down and shook the dark haired girl's shoulder. "Hermione. Hermione wake up. The train is about to leave."

The girl's honey gold eyes flickered open and she sat up still groggy. "Professor Lupin? What are you doing here?" she asked after a small yawn.

"Dumbledore asked me to come back and teach the Defense Against the Dark Arts again. For some odd reason he couldn't find anyone else qualified who wanted to take the job. He even owled all the parents to ask if any objected to my returning. None did. But enough of this. We need to get on the train just after I wake the other sleeping beauty here." he said with a twinkle in his eyes.

Hermione's brow furrowed. _What was Lupin talking about? No one else was on the bench except for her_. She glanced beside her and visibly jumped_. What the hell? When did he come? Oh dear Merlin, had she been sleeping on Draco Malfoy_! She turned to the werewolf.

"Don't wake him until I am on the train please Lupin. And..." her voice trailed off.

"Don't worry. Your secret is safe with me. Now go, there's barely two minutes left." he said as she grabbed up her backpack and ran for the compartment entrance.

Once she was safely inside the train he turned towards the still sleeping figure on the bench. "Mr. Malfoy. You need to wake up. The train is about to leave."

Silver eyes slitted open and then glanced down at the bench beside him. _Where'd she go. He didn't even have the chance to get her name. Bloody hell. Oh well, he'd no doubt see her around school._ He slowly got up and followed the shabbily robed man up onto the train and closed the door just as it took off down the tracks towards Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. _My last year. My last chance._ He shook his head and walked down the corridor looking for an empty or semi-empty room to finish his nap in and to think about the mystery girl without any interruptions.

"Drakie-poo. There you are!"

Draco closed his eyes as if in pain. _Well there goes my day_.


	3. Chapter 03

**Chapter 3.**

Hermione walked along the corridor of the swaying train, trying to keep her balance as she searched the compartments for her friends. Finally at the last compartment on the left she found a familiar red-head.

"Hey Ginny," she exclaimed entering the compartment and sitting on the seat across from her. "Where's Ron and Harry?"

Ginny laughed hollowly, "They are a few compartments up on the right with the rest of the Quidditch team. Harry was informed over the summer that they voted him captain and so he just had to get started right away." Ginny informed her with a bite in her voice while she stared at the book she was reading without even looking up.

Hermione mentally took a step back. Ginny had never sounded like this before and Hermione really couldn't quite place the emotion in the other girl's voice. _Anger...no...Hate...no...Jelousy...no...it's almost like vehnamence towards both her brother and Harry. Though the majority of it seems to be directed towards Harry._

Hermione had known something was wrong at the Burrow all summer. Ginny had become quite distant in her letters to her and over the summer they had become shorter and shorter and more pointless. Until finally, the last letter she had recieved had only two lines and it merely stated 'see you on the train. Ginny.' But honestly, she had been so wrapped up in all the shit that was happening to and around her that she hadn't been able to really respond with enough insistance to get Ginny to respond.

And in reality, her letters had been getting just as short to Ginny and she had completely stopped writing Ron and Harry altogether. It had taken only one brutal summer to see the trio's relationship the way everyone else saw it. One summer to see what had been happening all along and her so desperate for friendship that she blew it off. _Well that is going to change this year._

She glanced back up at Ginny. In truth, Ginny was the only person who had ever befriended her without an ulterior motive. She started to open her mouth to say something when she noticed that Ginny was totally engrossed in the book she was reading. _Come to think of it I've never seen Ginny read a book that wasn't on the class list. Magazines sure. Book...no_. Tilting her head Hermione tried to get a glimpse of the name on the spine but found it covered by one of those cloth stretch covers that muggle students were using to cover their books with. She shrugged._ I'll ask Ginny about it later._ Slowly she pulled out a book from her bag and opened it and began to read.

****

Ginny watched from under her lashes as the emotions ran across the other girl's face when she told her where the other two legs of the trio were and found herself jubilant inside as Hermione seemed to not really care.

She noticed when Hermione started to say something and then changed her mind. She was glad. If Hermione had asked her what was wrong at that moment she probably would have blurted everything out and then nothing would be safe. _I need more time. I'll tell her...soon....but not now. I'll have to make it pretty soon_, she decided as she watched Hermione try to read the name of the book she was reading and not being able to, pull out a book of her own.

Ginny glanced at the other book and saw Hermione had wiped the spine clean of the name. _Weird. I'll just ask her about it another time._ Ginny let a cynical smirk play at the corner of her lips. _Who knows, maybe Hermione has a secret just like mine_.

****

Meanwhile in the last compartment on the right, across from the two girls Draco was seriously considering jumping out the window. He watched the cloudcover open and close revealing the harsh countryside every few seconds. He tried to block out the inane arguement Crabbe and Goyle were having, if you could even call the 'I know you are but what am I' arguement an actual argument, and concentrated on the scenery outside the window.

Whenever the clouds parted to show it he would drink it in. The rolling hills interrupted by a sharp mountain or a steep cliff with enormous rocks and gullies seemed harsh to the majority of people who observed it but to him it was beautiful. _Something I can relate to. All people see is the harsh, the bad, what's up front. If they just looked a little closer then maybe they would see the good. The hollows filled with flowers, the tiny creeks that flowed clear to the bottom where smooth rocks shone like gems or maybe they would see the occasional hut or cabin and instead of thinking it small or having to live in squallar they would see the beauty of it. How it fit in perfectly with it's surroundings. Besides it could be hiding an exquisite splendor inside but they would never know because all they ever looked at was the outside. What was put up front for everyone to see to keep the beauty on the inside only for those who cared enough to look. I wish someone cared enough to really look at me._

"What the bloody hell!" Draco exclaimed as he turned away from the window. His foot smarted where someone had stomped on it. He looked at the two idiots sitting across from him and saw them staring at him blankly with one side of their heads tilted to the extent that they looked like a fish out of water. _Well it wasn't Crabbe or Goyle. They aren't faking that stupid look. Merlin, why do I hang out with people like this?_

A throat cleared nervously to his left and he glanced over irrated to find Pansy looking at him with those wide blue eyes of hers. _She really wouldn't be so bad looking if she would just let up on the makeup and skanky clothes. Oh and let's not forget that she sleeps with everyone. I mean honestly, does she really think I even want to hang out with her after finding her and my dad? Merlin, that was disgusting. And she just stared at me, licked her lips, and rode him harder. Disgusting._

"What do you want Pansy?" Draco asked with an edge to his voice.

She leaned in close to his ear and put her hand on the inside of his thigh. "You," she whispered huskily.

Draco grabbed her hand by the wrist and used it to toss her over onto Crabbe and Goyle. "No thanks."

She pouted and Goyle lumbered into the space next to him as the door to the compartment opened. A rather old and jolly witch stood there with a cart full of treats and food. "Anything off the trolley dears?"

Not noticing the compartment across from them opening its door, Draco looked at the old woman with deadened eyes, "You got anything that contains poison so I can die instead of sitting here with these three gits?"

He glanced across the hall noticing the open door and saw the dark haired girl from earlier sitting in a compartment with Ginny Weasley who was buying a couple of chocolate frogs. The old woman gave him an odd glance and replied with a quick negative on the posion and then gave the red-headed girl her change.

_So she knows the weasel's little sister. Hmmm. Blaize knows that red-head. Maybe we could all arrange a little get together. _Draco smiled in anticipation and let his gaze back wander to the window and the clouds swirling by outside.

**Continued in Chapter 4...**


	4. Chapter 04

**Chapter 4.**

The sorting ceremony was blissfully short in Hermione's opinion. After the carriages had dropped them off at the castle Ron and Harry had caught up with her and Ginny and ever since they had all sat down in the Great Hall together the two boys had been giving her strange looks.

Finally when the tables were laden down with all the deserts a person could want at the end of the meal Hermione snapped.

"What the bloody hell do you want!" she shouted at the two boys sitting across from her. The entire hall fell silent. Even the teachers stopped with forks and spoons halfway to their mouths as they turned to stare at the Gryffindor table.

Harry and Ron exchanged what they thought was a quick look. Unfortunately for them it wasn't and Hermione very quickly interpreted it. They thought she was crazy. That she had gone off her rocker. When neither of them spoke up and continued instead to sit there in silence the dark haired girl stood up and walked out of the hall so quickly that a few students later swore if you hadn't been staring at her when it happened you would have thought that she had just apparated out of the hall.

Meanwhile over on the other end of the hall at the Slytherin table Draco craned his neck to try to see who the dark haired mystery girl was yelling at. After instructing Crabbe and Goyle several times to move their heads, which they just seemed unable to comprehend, Draco gave up and reached for a dessert. He stared down unbelieving at the dessert he had chosen. Pumpkin pie. He hadn't had pumpkin pie since he was six years old. He remembered it well. It was his one and only foray into the muggle world.

His dad had been out of England on some kind of business and so his mom had decided to take him somewhere he'd never been before. Muggle London. He remembered how scared he'd been at first when they had stepped out of Diagon Alley onto the main side street. It had taken over three hours before his mom convinced him that he wasn't going to be hurt. His fears had finally been completely assuaged when his mom had taken him into a bookstore. There had been so many books. Rows and rows full of them. And nobody seemed to be in a hurry. His mom had been so happy to see him excited. She'd even bought him a book. He had to keep it a secret from daddy though, his mom told him. Daddy would be upset if he knew about their little trip. So it had become their secret and later on that day when they stopped at a restaurant for lunch he and his mom had shared a slice of pumpkin pie for dessert. His mom promised him then not to worry that they would come back over and over. Unfortunately that was the one and only outing he and his mom had ever had together. He often resented her for it because if she had never taken him out that day then he would have never known how nice it was in the muggle world and he wouldn't be plagued with doubts about what other things his father could be wrong about.

Draco pushed away from the table and stalked off in the direction of the dormitories. His grandmother had been right. Sometimes ignorance was bliss.

Up in the dormitories Hermione heard footsteps coming up the stairs and quickly hid a box that had been in her lap under her bed and quickly laid down with her eyes closed and pretended to already be asleep as the other girls filed into the bedroom. She really didn't feel like talking to anyone.

All the girls had finally settled into their beds and started to snore when Hermione started to reach under her bed for the box again when she noticed a shadow enter the room out of the corner of her eye. It set something down beside the bed and crawled underneath the covers beside her.

"Mione, can I stay here for tonight? Please...I need to be somewhere safe." the shadow whispered to her.

Hermione shifted slightly and turned over so she could hug the other girl.

"You are always welcome here Ginny. You know that." she said softly against the red-head's hair. Just before drifting off to sleep her mind questioned a part of what her friend had said. _Safe. Why wasn't Ginny feeling safe in her own room?_

Early the next morning the other Gryffindor girls were awakened to the sound of someone retching. But when they went in the bathroom and found it empty they shrugged and thought it was Peeves playing a trick on them. Figuring they were already awake they all got dressed and headed down to breakfast in the Great Hall.

Ginny rolled over onto her back, thankful that none of the girls had been intelligent enough to pull the curtains back from the bed, and realized that she wasn't the only one still in bed. Hermione slowly, almost sluggishly, sat up on the other side of the bed. Neither looked at the other as they got dressed for class and gathered their books into their bags. Ginny was so wrapped up in trying to quell the waves of nausea she was feeling that she didn't notice the small box her friend got out from under the bed and slipped into her bag. Both turned and started down the stairs towards breakfast. It was time to face another day.

Hermione watched as Ginny tried to eat a piece of dry toast to appease her brother who was harping at her about not eating enough lately. Taking pity on her she quickly grabbed the piece of toast from Ginny's plate when Ron wasn't looking and added it to her plateful of food that she hadn't touched. Ginny mouthed her a thank-you just as the owls flew overhead and dropped their schedules in their laps. Hermione glanced at hers and inwardly groaned. Advanced Defence Against the Dark Arts first thing. She really didn't want to face Professor Lupin so soon.

As she walked down the hall she began to get shaky and nervous. The closer she got to class the more jittery she became. Finally she made up an excuse to Ron and Harry who were walking with her (they had apologized for their behavior the night before) and ran towards the nearest girls' bathroom. Praying it was empty she slammed the door open and looked in every stall just to make sure before she sat down on the seat in the last one and took the small wooden box out of her bag. Carefully she took the key from around her neck and undid the lock and opened the box.

She stared at the contents for a full minute before making up her mind and taking out what she needed. A few seconds later she closed her eyes and steadied her hands as she guided the needle into the vein in her arm. It burned for a second as she emptied the contents of the syringe into her bloodstream and then it stopped. Everything stopped. The fear, the emptiness, the nervousness, her hands stopped shaking and finally her head stopped spinning. It all just blissfully stopped.

Then the voices started. Inside her head. Mocking her. Laughing at her. _So this is the only way you can feel normal? Look at you, hiding in a bathroom. Hiding away your fears by using drugs. You should be ashamed! Drugs! What would your mother say if she knew? ASHAMED. Her perfect daughter failing life. You should be punished! FAILURE. Drugs are wrong! You should feel guilty! PUNISH. What would your dad say? GUILTY. Do you think Dumbledore will still give you the head girl badge next year if he knew about this? PUNISH. Professor McGonagall sure wouldn't be proud of you anymore. PUNISH_.

Sobbing Hermione dropped the needle and grabbed a knife from inside the box. She held it to her arm as the voices swarmed inside her head. Daring her. Mocking her. Over and Over.

_What? Are you afraid now? Afraid to feel? Afraid to admit that you aren't perfect...that you can hurt! Just let it go! PUNISH YOURSELF! You are supposed to be the example for everyone else! And what happens when someone does something wrong? They get punished! PUNISH YOURSELF NOW OR GO AND ADMIT EVERYTHING TO SOMEONE ELSE SO THEY CAN PUNISH YOU INSTEAD! NOW!_

Quickly she pressed the blade down and drew it across her arm repeatedly. She watched, tears swimming in her eyes, as the blood welled up and flowed over her arm to drip onto the floor. Setting down the knife she pulled a length of gauze out of her bag and carefully bound her arm from wrist to elbow and then pulled her robe's sleeve down. Quietly she sat with her eyes closed and listened to the voices recede into the back of her mind with their taunting laughter.

A few minutes later with sure and steady hands Hermione put everything back into the box, locked it, slid it back into her bag and headed off to class.

**Author's Note:**

Okay so my plan for getting a chapter out per week isn't going to work. Mainly because I can't seem to get in the mood to write that much when I am already tired from taking care of Eden all day long and then my husband comes home and I have to take care of him too.

But anyways. Hope you like some of the plot twists and strangely enough I told my husband I was going to try to keep all characters in character in this story but then he read some of my plot lines and informed me that to do that with some of my story bits I am going to have to have many delving into the past forays and I am going to have to go into certain characters minds and alter their thinking slowly over time.

So now it's all complicated. But it should work itself out. Hopefully.


	5. Chapter 05

**Chapter 5.**

Hermione walked into the classroom, smiled at Professor Lupin, and walked over to the empty seat he motioned her towards. Quickly she got out a scroll of parchment and the quill that Ginny had gotten her for her birthday the year before which never ran out of ink and started to take notes on the lecture that Lupin had begun. She glanced up at him with surprise on her face, after a few lines of notes, when she realized what he was talking about. Dementors.

_Well_, she thought, _Ron and Harry will be happy. They won't really need to crash study for once. They actually already know it_. She glanced across the aisle to her two friends who were deeply engrossed in something on their parchment. Hermione narrowed her eyes when she figured out what it was. _They could at least attempt to pay attention. Learning about dementors abilities and why they are the way they are will be needed more in the coming years than coming up with new quidditch plays._ She thought angrily to herself. _They want to work on quidditch. Fine. But this year my notes are my notes and my work is my work and I am not sharing. They are going to have to learn how to do it on their own._ Hermione smiled. _It'll be a hard lesson for them to learn. But it has to be done_. Quickly she underlined the last sentence Lupin had said. It regarded how the dementors would chose one person out of a crowd of people and would feed on that one but no others based on what it needed at the time.

Inwardly Draco rejoiced for joy. His plan had worked. He figured that the dark haired girl would be in the advanced version of DADA so he had made sure that he sat at the only table with an empty seat. He was confused on one thing though. Granger hadn't been in class when it started and when his mystery girl came and sat down next to him the Professor nodded to her as if he knew her from before.

_Duh_, he said to himself_, he told her to get on the train remember. Right before he woke you up to get on the train_. He watched out of the corner of his eye as the girl pulled out quill and parchment and began to notes. He smiled when she jerked her head up as she realized what they were studying and watched in annoyance as she glanced over at Potter and Weasley and then continued to stare at them. _Oh Merlin, not another Potty fan._

He glanced at her parchment as he moved his attention back to his own notes and then stopped suddenly as something he had noticed before began to dawn on him. _Granger isn't in class. She wasn't late. She isn't even here._ He glanced quickly all around the room. _Granger is definitely not in class. Why the hell not,_ he thought as he became quite irritated. _She is supposed to be here. I'm supposed to beat her in grades this year dammit. It doesn't count if I get the highest grades if she isn't here for me to beat._

Slowly almost as if in a daze he moved his gaze back to the notes of the girl beside him. Her handwriting, it was familiar. _Bloody hell_, he thought as he lifted his gaze from her parchment to the girl who was now gathering up her things as the lecture part of class was over. _She's Granger_. _What the bloody hell_. Quickly he grabbed his book and parchment and threw it into his bag as Professor Lupin led the class out of the room and towards wherever the practical part of the class was going to take place.

Hermione glanced to her left out of curiosity to see who she had been sitting next to all class, as she gathered up her books to follow Professor Lupin outside, and was shocked to see Draco Malfoy throwing his stuff into his bag and then striding out the door. _He didn't mock me. He didn't call me mudblood. That whole time he just sat there saying nothing._ Hermione stood in shock. _Maybe he's changed._

_Okay let's not get ahead of ourselves_, she thought as she followed him out the door with Ron and Harry tagging along behind her. Then as the strap of her bag slid across her arm and reminded her of herself another thought entered her mind. _Maybe he hides his real self behind a mask too_. Shaking her head slightly as they came to a stop near the edge of the Forbidden Forest Hermione tried to pay attention to what Lupin was saying.

"So here we have an obstacle course of everything you have learned about since coming to Hogwarts. Your grade will be based on how well you get past the obstacles and on your time. There are four paths so four people can enter at once. When one comes out the exit another enters. Got it? When you exit class is over for you and you may leave once you eat a piece of chocolate."

Lupin stopped talking and motioned with his wand towards the four openings in the forest. Each suddenly became outlined with a different color.

"So we know which path is empty when you enter your hair will become the color of the entrance you used. It will return to normal exactly five minutes after you exit." he added as they stepped towards the entrances. Several girls became slightly nervous and drifted backwards so that more boys were towards the front.

"Oh, come on," Professor Lupin said slightly exasperated. "It's just your hair and it's only five minutes. No one is going to care."

Annoyed Hermione rolled her eyes and watched as the other girls fingered their locks like they were going to lose their best friend. A few seconds later she held back a laugh as Ron and Harry swaggered over to the gaps in the forest. She barely got a glimpse of Harry's hair going shock red and Ron's turning green before they disappeared into the forest. Neither color was complimentary to either boy's looks.

Noticing no one else was moving forward she dropped her bag to the ground with a thud and disappeared through the purple entrance. As she moved forward her last glance backward showed Malfoy entering the forest through the blue gap.

Draco stepped through the gap in the foliage and started down the path_. Okay, let's think this over,_ his mind said. _The girl you found at the train station was Granger. That girl you found beautiful. That makes Granger beautiful to you. That means you like a mudblood_.

Instantly his mind rebelled against his thoughts but not in the way he expected it to. _You shouldn't call her that. It's rude and degrading. But that is what your father said she is and that is what you believed she was up until a few minutes ago,_ his mind reminded him ironically enough. _And your father has never been wrong about anything before has he?_

_Yes he has, _Draco thought remembering the pumpkin pie_. Maybe I should try something new. I'll try talking to her. That's it, I'll talk to her. _He shook his head as something stepped in front of him on the path and demanded his full attention.

Hermione glanced down mildly entertained at her now purple hair and smiled. Purple was her favorite color after all, especially this shade. Deep royal purple. Practically black. Hermione shook her head. _Back to business_, she thought as she started on down the twisting path.

None of the obstacles seemed overly hard to her and she started to run down the path as she saw the end in sight when suddenly a dark shadow enveloped the forest around her and suddenly her entire body went cold. Blindly she stumbled forward as the feeling of coldness grew until she felt completely numb and slid to the ground. Suddenly with a jerk she realized what was happening and pushed herself off the ground. Raising her wand she spoke with every ounce of magic inside her "Expecto Patronum." She didn't have to shout the incantation like Harry and so many others did, she barely whispered it and yet the effect was stronger than if they had screamed it. The darkness fell in upon itself and suddenly the forest was visible and so was the exit which had seemed so far away a few minutes before and yet now was only a few feet in front of her.

Calmly she exited and glanced over at Professor Lupin just as Draco exited from right beside her with midnight blue hair.

"Ten minutes each, Excellent work both of you. One hundred percent on your marks." Lupin called out from across the clearing. "All right the rest of you, the bar has been set. Get a move on, there's two paths open."

Smiling she walked across the field and took a piece of chocolate from the basket that Professor Lupin motioned at and was about to pop it in her mouth when a voice behind her startled her.

"So what was your favorite part, Granger? Personally I liked the bit with Devil's Snare. A violent plant, even when it's a seedling."

Hermione turned around and stared at the blue haired Malfoy. Honestly the color looked good on him.

"Honestly I liked the logic riddle with the centaurs. I can't believe he got them to agree to help. They were very angry with us humans at the end of last year. Especially me," she added in a soft voice.

"Aww, come on Granger. No one could ever get mad at you. Not even me. The only way you could have made me mad last year was if you had abandoned me with that Umbr..." Draco's voice trailed off at the guilty look on the girl's face. "No you didn't...tell me you didn't." He laughed.

Hermione bit her lip. "I didn't know that it was going to be that bad..." she trailed off.

Draco smiled, "No wonder she was afraid of the sound of hooves when she came back."

Hermione laughed and started to eat her chocolate while they discussed the course and how they had gotten past certain obstacles. She was laughing at Malfoy's impression of a boggart impersonating his father as he told him he was very disappointed in him as he danced around as if in a mock ballet when she was interrupted by Ron and Harry coming out of the forest at a dead run.

It seemed Harry had finished but then Ron had come out being chased by one of Hagrid's blast-ended-skwerts and now it wanted a piece of both Harry and Ron. Once Professor Lupin had put the creature back with a simple spell the two boys started coming over and Hermione noticed the looks of astonishment on their faces and the smile fell from her face as she realized what they were upset about. She had completely forgotten that she was talking with Malfoy. Whom they hated with a passion. Turning towards him she excused herself, picked up her books and practically ran back to the school like a dementor was on her tail.

**Continued in Chapter 6...**


	6. Chapter 06

**Chapter 6.**

Ginny stared at the note the owl had just delivered to her after Professor McGonagall had handed her her schedule for the fall term. It only had two lines written on it

_Meet me at the third floor landing outside of Transfiguration after your first class._

_Don't be late._

Ginny's smile faded as Hermione left the table with Ron and Harry for their first class and another wave of nausea hit her only to be compounded with an enormous amount of anxiety. She slowly got up from the bench, picked up her books and headed off in the direction of her first class...Potions with Snape.

_Oh merlin, Oh merlin, Oh merlin. He knows. He knows I avoided him last night. He must be mad. Oh merlin, he's gonna hurt me._

On the outside as she sat down next to her semi-friend Luna Lovegood Ginny looked completely composed and slightly bored as she re-opened the book she had been reading on the train, as she waited for Professor Snape to begin the class. But on the inside Ginny was screaming. Screaming in fear, self-hatred and pure loathing at herself for not being strong enough to stop what was happening to her. She was pathetic.

Ginny lowered her eyes and finished off the next paragraph in the chapter she was reading before she noticed Luna frowning at her. She looked up quickly. Snape was standing at the front of the classroom and beginning the lecture.

"Today you are going to be beginning the very difficult Polyjuice Potion. Can anyone tell me what this potion does?"

Snape glanced around the room and his eyes narrowed on the red-headed Weasley girl who had a book open that was not the book recommended for his class. Quickly he strode over and ripped the book from the girl's almost desperate hands. _Why does she not want me to see this? Could it possibly contain the notes for the plans that those despicable twins gave their brother to inflict annoyance on me?_

"Let's see what appears to be more interesting than making a passing grade shall we?" His eyes narrowed on the text of the page and his mouth opened to begin to read a paragraph aloud.

The words registered in his brain and slowly he re-read the paragraph to make certain his mind wasn't playing tricks on him and then he flipped quickly to the title page of the book. Reading the title he stood still, shocked to his inner core, and then with a quick slam he shut the book and set it on his desk. He turned towards the girl that he had thought to be the only Weasley he had ever met that contained a lick of sense. _Damn it all, she at least had a promising intellect_.

"You are excused from all potion making during class for the first term. You instead will be helping me with collecting and storing ingredients for future potion usage Miss Weasley during your spare time to make up the work. Do you understand?" He waited for her to nod and when she did he continued on, "Stay after class a moment and I will give you back your book."

The class continued on as normal and Ginny took notes on the potion down to every last small detail and when the others got out their cauldrons to begin the making of the potion she instead went over to the ingredients cupboard and began to make notations on which ingredients they were running low on. At the end of class Ginny gathered up her things and waited while the other students filed out of the room before she went up to Snape's desk where he was waiting for her.

"Thank you Professor for not reading anything out loud." she said in a quiet voice not daring to look him in the eyes.

"Miss Weasley," he paused waiting for her to look up but when she continued to stare at the grain running through the wood of his desk he decided to try a different approach.

"Ginny." The red-headed girl's gaze shot up to him.

"I am going to assume that your parents don't know." He waited for a response and when he got none he continued again, "Don't worry I will not tell them. However there are some things that I must know in order to help you with your safety. The most obvious thing I must know is how long. I know that out of all the people here I am not the one you would want to confide in but even you must admit that I am the one person no one would ask if they had questions." He stopped and looked at her determined to get an answer this time.

"Seven months." she said quietly her eyes never leaving his.

Quickly he tried to hide his shock at this but found he couldn't. "But you don't appear to be..." he trailed off not knowing how to continue.

"I use a simple glamour spell on my robes so no one notices the difference. Unless someone brushes up against me they never know. I made sure of that." she said softly watching his nervousness start to fade.

"That won't work for much longer. Does the father know?" he asked briskly.

Ginny shook her head, "No. I wish he could never find out." Out of the corner of his eye Snape watched as the girl clenched and unclenched her fists. Then he almost swore she muttered something under her breath that sounded like, "That way he'll never be able to hurt the baby like he has me."

"So you wish to give it up for adoption?"

"No! I'm keeping this baby. Without the father. I don't care if I am kicked out of Hogwarts or my parent's house. It's my baby! Mine! It wasn't intended but it's mine! No one is taking it from me!" she burst out looking as though she was about to cry.

Snape came around the desk and awkwardly held the girl in his arms for a few moments while she calmed down. Then another niggling question popped into his mind.

"Ginny, you have seen a doctor haven't you? A midwife? Anyone to tell you if the baby is healthy?" He began to panic when she shook her head against his chest.

"I'm underage. If I went to anyone they would have told my parents. And they would make me give the baby up or sign my rights over to them. They would just see the baby as another mouth to feed." she sniffled as she tried to hold back her tears.

Gently Snape pushed her chin up so she would look at him. "You need to see Pomfrey. She'll be discreet, I promise. I'll see to it personally."

Ginny shook her head, "No, no, no..."

"You have to see a doctor. You need to make sure the baby is okay. Poppy knows how to keep a secret. You do realize that you will have to inform the headmaster. He won't kick you out. I assure you. But he will set up some new quarters for you to help you take care of the baby better." Gently he pried her out of his arms and held her at arms length. "You don't think you are the first pregnant student Hogwarts has seen do you?" At her astonished gaze he continued on, "Yes, there have been other expectant moms and all have graduated from Hogwarts and there have also been married students who have graduated as well. Sometimes if asked politely Dumbledore will even allow the student to stay on during the summer holidays and will help them find a part-time job even if he himself has to watch the child while the student works. He really is a softy about children. I suppose it's because he never had any of his own." Snape paused, "Ah, but I have gotten away from myself. So, will you go to Poppy on your own or do I need to escort you?" He asked casually but with the hint of force behind it.

"I'll go. Right after Herbology. I promise." Ginny said as she started to scoot towards the door.

"Your book Miss Weasley." he said holding out the unmarked book to her.

"Oh right, thank you." she stuttered as she grabbed it and started back towards the door again.

"Oh, and Miss Weasley I recommend confiding in Miss Granger. For a know-it-all she does seem to be a truly loyal friend. Besides, how you managed to get it past her for this long is beyond me." he added as she opened the door. Ginny nodded and started to close the door and then made a quick decision and turned around.

"Thank you for your help Professor Snape. And to show you my appreciation-Do not touch the homework assignment Ron tries to hand in to you. Have all the students pass their work down to Harry before you collect it. Trust me." she said conspiratorally with a smirk on her face as she left the room and closed the door behind her.

_Ahhh, an ally in the young Weasley. And a detention for the other._ Snape thought as he started to check the beginning steps of the potion the students had been working on and found one student had already managed to burn a hole straight through their cauldron. _Oh, not another one like Longbottom._

Glancing at her watch Ginny realized she was going to be late to Herbology if she didn't hurry and so she began to run up the stairs and down the corridor that led to the greenhouse. Suddenly just as she rounded a corner someone grabbed hold of her arm and pulled her into one of the tiny side halls.

"Didn't you get my note?" asked a male voice. Ginny blanched at the venom laced through the words. _Oh merlin, he's going to hurt me_.

"Snape held me after. I had no choice." She started to walk back out into the main hallway. "I'm going to be late for Herbology. I have to go." The hand grabbed her again and threw her against the wall.

"No, you need to explain why you didn't come last night. You also need to explain why you weren't in your bed when I came looking for you." he said angrily.

Ginny started to breathe fast as she saw him lift his fist. Before she could even flinch his fist had connected with her cheek and she was down on the ground. She watched him as if through a dim fog as he lifted his left foot to kick her in the stomach, luckily footsteps came from the other end of the small hall towards them and her attacker fled so as not to be caught.

"This isn't over. We'll talk later, sweetheart." he snarlrd as he left.

The footsteps started coming closer and as she picked herself up from off the floor Ginny decided right then and there that she was going to kiss whoever came around that corner even if it was Lord Voldemort himself.

"Ginny, what happened to you!?"

The red-head smiled halfheartedly, "Mione I need you to take me to the hospital wing and I need to tell you something on the way."

**Continued in Chapter 7....**

**Author's Note:**

**i'm scrapping my story 'father knows best' until i finish one of the others i have been working on. sorry**


	7. Chapter 07

**Chapter 7.**

Within the next hour Ginny's bedside became rather busy and crowded. Dumbledore had been sent for by Madam Pomfrey and then he in turn had sent for Professor McGonagall. She had sent for both Professors Sprout and Snape. And of course Hermione never left her friend's side.

_Oh my, I can't believe this. Ginny's going to be a mom._ Hermione shifted in her chair uncomfortably as the room was beginning to get a bit warm and stuffy with the amount of people in it. She cleared her throat in hopes of catching someones attention, in order to have them alter the temperature, but to no avail. So she compromised with herself by peeling off her robes and sweater and sat holding Ginny's hand in only a collared t-shirt and pleated skirt. Her bandage was obvious to everyone as were the dark bruises on the inside of her elbow.

Professor Sprout noticed first and nudged Professor McGonagall who started enough in her facial reaction to alert the others that something was out of place. They glanced over and immediately Dumbledore knew what was happening. He sighed and closed his eyes. _She's been working too hard. She's going to kill herself. How often have I told myself that. I should have spent more time with her. I should have helped her more with the transition this summer. But I didn't. I helped Harry train and I left her to fend for herself. I did this to her_. Sudden shouting grabbed Dumbledore's attention and he opened his eyes to find Poppy trying to force a glass of Bruise-A-Way down Hermione's throat as she tried to undo the bandage on the girl's arm at the same time.

"No, no, it's fine. I promise. I can take care of it."

"Miss Granger, you are not a medi-witch. I am. Now. Let. Me. See."

Finally after a vicious game of tug of war the gauze loosened and slid some. All of the teachers gasped at the bloody mess of old and fresh scars that appeared from beneath the bandage. Hermione swallowed hastily and averted her gaze from the Professors' as she grabbed her bag and ran out of the hospital wing with no real destination in mind.

Back in the hospital wing Ginny woke up from her nap to find her friend gone, horrified looks on the Professors' faces and Snape storming out of the room.

"What did I miss?" the red-head asked uncertainly.

The medi-witch immediately went to soothe what she thought was the girl's fear associated with the pregancy.

"Nothing, nothing. Miss Granger decided to go back to class and Professor Snape realized he had a class about to start. That's all. Now be nice and still so I can check the baby's heartbeat alright."

Ginny nodded even though she knew she was being lied to. _I'll ask Hermione about it later_. She waited patiently while Pomfrey finished the exam and then pronounced her and the baby to be in perfect health. Ginny smiled and hopped off the bed and started for the door intending to head off to her next class.

"Miss Weasley, please wait a moment." Dumbledore's voice rang out from behind her.

Ginny nodded and sat back down, "Yes sir?"

"You are going to be given your own suite for convenience. Originally I had decided to forgo letting the heads have thier own rooms and common rooms this year considering the chaos of the world outside. However, after a few minutes of consideration I have changed my mind. You will share a common room with the head boy and girl. You will have your own bathroom and a bedroom with a connecting nursery. This way if something should happen to place the school in danger you and your child will be safe with the two most experienced students to protect you."

Ginny nodded and then frowned, "Who are the head boy and girl this year sir? I don't remember them having been announced yesterday at the feast."

Dumbledore's usually twinkling eyes seemed subdoed for a moment. As if a shadow had passed over his world. "They are to be announced at dinner tonight. Head boy is Draco Malfoy and Hermione is the Head girl."

Ginny smiled, "She'll be thrilled! That's what she has been working for ever since first year!"

"Yes" The headmaster said quietly. "But now I'm afraid this may do more harm than good." he muttered to himself unaware that Ginny was listening intently. Her brow furrowed. _What does he mean?_

Meanwhile Hermione had stopped running and collapsed against a wall somewhere down in the dungeons. _No one will look for me here_, she thought as her body was racked with sobs. Shaking she pulled the box from her bag and took out a needle. Quickly she pushed it into the waiting vein and emptied the contents of the syringe insde just as someone came striding around the corner. Hastily she put the needle back into the box and then suffed the box in her bag in hopes that whoever was coming wouldn't care or notice what she was doing. However, this just didn't seem to be her lucky day. _Oh Bloody Hell_.

"Hermione. Give it to me now." Snape's voice thrundered from behind her. Meanwhile an open classroom door nearby had the entire waiting class listneing intently to every word that was said.

"No. It's none of your business."

"The bloody hell it isn't You're going to end up killing yourself."

"So what! Why should you care? You never have before. All this is is letting me go and you've perfected that down to an art Severus."

"I did not want to leave you! Dammit! I have a right to tell you what you can and can't do! Now give me that damn box!"

"No! You gave up your rights to anything surrounding me seventeen years ago!"

Almost the entire class averted their eyes as the angry girl stormed in followed closely by the irate Professor.

"We'll talk about this later." he said as she sat in the first available chair and he walked past her to the front of the class.

"Whatever." she muttered as she got out a quill and parchment not noticing that she had never fixed the gauze bandage that was now only covering about half of her injuries. _Bloody hell, he blew my high_.

"The wolfsbane potion is one of the most complex potions known to wizards..."

**Continued in Chapter 8...**


	8. Chapter 08

**Chapter 8.**

Not more than a couple leagues away from Hogwarts a small group of cloaked and hooded figures

stood in front of an occupied chair in a manor that seemed to be swallowed up by the forest. One man knealt down in front of the chair and imparted the news he had uncovered.

The man in the chair began to laugh with a hollow tone. "So she's back. Now he has a weakness. Good." he smiled mirthlessly. "I can use her to control him."

He reached down to the man and tilted his chin up. The man's silver eyes met his blazing red one's. "Tell your son to watch her Lucius. Have him befriend her. Go." he instructed.

Within the blink of an eye all the figures who had been standing in the room disappeared and the man who was sitting in the chair stood up and walked over to the fireplace. He stared into the flames and watched the flickers of light jump and leap through his mind. The warmth seeped into his pale skin even as he turned away from it and searched the room with his ruby gaze.

"Nagini." he said as a snake appeared from the dark side of the room. It slithered up to him and rose so that its diamond head was parrellel with his own.

"It's time to visit some old friends. You know who I mean. You've tasted his flesh before."

The snake nodded and slithered out the door followed by its master's hollow laughter.

**Continued in Chapter 9...**

**Author's Note:**

Yes the chapters are short at the moment but that's really for a reason. I used to get all these reviews saying that they were getting confused when I switched from one scene to another or from one group of people to another in point of view so I have decided that to avoid that annoyance I will just do a few short chapters here and there to alleviate the headaches that come with everything. So if you see two or three chapters put up in one day then those are chapters that I originally had as one.

But other than that I have the next chapter for this story ready to go up next week so I am going to concentrate on one of my other stories for a few days probably I Belong To You...I haven't updated that one in awhile.


	9. Chapter 09

**Chapter 9**

Snape finished the lectureand everyone began to put their notes away. Hermione stood up and noticed as Snape motioned for her to stay put. _He obviously wants to finish our little conversation. Screw him._ She glared at him for a few seconds and then hefted her bag up onto her shouloder and turned to walk out of the class. She paused, distracted briefly by a falcon flying into the room and dropping a letter off to the person sitting next to her. A hand grabbed hold of her wrist and pushed the bandage up past the elbow to unveil the scars of the summer.

"Merlin, Mione. What happened to you?" Ron asked as Harry stared at the scars next to him. She angrily jerked her arm out of his grasp.

"None of your bloody blusiness Ron. Why don't you and Harry go away and play on your brooms some more!" she hissed.

Ron's face slowly began to turn red and he opened his mouth to say something he would most likely regret later when a voice interrupted them and washed over her like a cool breeze.

"Well if it isn't Potter and the Weasel. Trying to figure out how fast it will take to bore poor Hermione to death with all the details of your pathetic summer?" the silver tongued Slytherin devil asked from the other side of the asile.

"Don't you dare insult Hermione like that Malfoy!" Ron shouted.

Hermione closed her eyes and shook her head as Draco's mouth hung open slightly in shock.

"I wasn't insulting her you dimwit, I was insulting you and Potter there. Merlin, sometimes you seem thicker than Crabbe and Goyle. At least Hermione was worth insulting, she at least could make up a witty comeback." he said shaking his head.

Giving up Draco sauntered over to her and gave her a hug. "See you in the morning Mione. Remember you promised to eat breakfast with me." He winked at her and walked back to the desk she had been sharing with her potions partner and picked up the notebook he had left behind before exiting the class with his tell tale smirk. _That felt good. I really should play on those two's dumb intellect more often. It's kind of like having Saturday morning cartoons come on during the week when you least expect it._

Harry and Ron turned around slowly to Hermione.

"What the bloody hell?" Ron shouted.

Harry just stood there looking incredulous until he managed to finally find his voice. "And to think we thought that you sitting next to him in the past few classes was just a fluke. Some odd way the classroom had filled up. But you wanted to sit next to him all along. You would rather sit next to your enemy than your friends. Hell your're probably fucking him too. Is that how you got to go on your little holiday this past summer Hermione? You got to tag along with Malfoy as long as you gave some up at the end of the night?"

Hermione shook her head her anger rising slowly inside her.

"Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley why don't you go on ahead to the dorm. I need to speak to Miss. Snape about her head duties if you please." said Professor McGonagall as she walked into the potions classroom and interrupted the fight that she was sure was about to break out.

"Snape." Harry hissed at her.

"Yes, Snape, Harry. I told you I was adopted didn't I? Oh wait, you two were both so busy being prats that you probably didn't even read the letters I owled you this summer telling you about it. Oh well, if you will excuse me I need to speak with Professor McGonagall." she spun on her heel and followed the Transfiguration teacher out of the class and down the hall to the stairs that led up to her office.

"Fifty points from Gryffindor for bothering my daughter Potter." Professor Snape's voice rang out as he passed the two boys who were still standing in the doorway with murderous looks on their faces.

**Continued in Chapter 10...**


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10. And the Truth shall set you Free**

Draco Malfoy stood to the right of the potions door staring blankly in front of him. _Snape. Hermione Snape. She's Snape's daughter._ He managed to shut his gaping mouth and put on a sneer for the Weasel and Potter as they came out the door but inside his mind was fumbling over all the new information. _ Snape. Snape is pureblood. That makes Hermione at least half-blood. She's not a mudblood. Merlin, she could even be a pureblood. It's okay to associate with her_. Draco's back stiffened off the cold stone wall he was leaning against. _ I wonder if father knows._

Walking almost absentmindedly he made his way to his room in the dungeons and sat down at his desk. He had just managed to dip his quill in his ink bottle when a dark feathered eagle flew in the room and dropped a letter on his desk and then flew back out the window almost colliding with the black hawk that flew in and dropped another letter on his desk before leaving. Draco frowned. _Who would be sending me letters in the afternoon? Why not just wait until morning?_

Draco picked up the letter that had arrived first by way of the eagle. Slicing the crest open on the back he realized that it must have been his father's eagle. Still he wondered at why his father was sending him a letter so late in the day. The lines seemed to jump off the parchment and imprint themselves in his mind.

_------------------------------------------------_

_Draco,_

_The Dark Lord and I have just been informed that Severus Snape's daughter has been found and reunited with her father. Your duty is to befriend this witch as she is the product of two most powerful lines in pureblood genetics. Her power will be beyond comparison. She will be a great asset to our campaign. Befriend her at all costs. Help her make the transition. You are to attempt to do this before the winter holidays as the Dark Lord expects to meet her here at our home during those two weeks to talk to her._

_Your Father_

_Lucius Malfoy_

_P.S. Your mother will be sending you a basket in the morning with pastries as usual along with a gift for Snape's daughter._

_----------------------------------------------_

Draco pondered the letter for a minute before relaxing against the back of his chair. _Snape's daughter. Father kept saying that over and over. Snape's daughter. Never once does he actually say her name. Does that mean that for once I know the whole truth to something that Father only knows a part of? Interesting. _ Turning his attention back to his desk he remembered the other letter and slit that parchment open with a knife on his desk.

_--------------------------------------------------------_

_Mr. Malfoy, _

_I have the great pleasure in telling you that you have been awarded the position of Head boy this year. I'm afraid that the decision on Head girl was not official yet as of yesterday but today it has been confirmed. Hermione will be the Head girl. You will be sharing a common room together as well as recieving new rooms. Miss Weasley will also be using the common room. She or Hermione will inform you as to her situation should they feel it is right to do so. Your things will be moved by the house elves after dinner. Please remain in the Great Hall after announcements so that Professor McGonagall and I can show you to your new home._

_Sincerely,_

_Your Head of House,_

_Professor Snape_

_------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

Draco closed his eyes at this announcement with a true smile on his face. _ Well this is gonna be interesting indeed._

Ron and Harry raced out the door fuming as they passed Malfoy and his usual smirk. The anger rolled off of their bodies in waves and the expected first years all the way up to wary fifth years jumped out of the way. Smoke was practically steaming out of their ears and nose as they reached the portrait to the Gryffindor house common room when they realized that the portrait was empty.

"Typical. Bloody typical. The stupid fat wanker is gone again." Ron exploded as he threw up his hands in vexation.

A knight in the next painting over looked at the two boys while he chatted to one of the occupants of the library landscape he was in.

"I daresay good chap what is all the ruckus about?"

Ron sneered at the knight in the rusty armour, "The Fat Lady is gone and we need in you old coot."

Sir Cadagon glowered at the insolent red head from beneath his bushy eyebrows, "I must say young man that that kind of name calling is uncalled for. However since I am in a good mood I will go and find the gaurdian you need to speak to." and with that he pulled himself up and astride his white horse and galloped off through the paintings down the hall.

"Someone has to be inside Ron." Harry said his calm voice hiding the fury he was holding within. Ron thought about this and determined it to be true so he began to pound on the portrait door much to the annoyance of several of the portrait inhabitants near by who glared at the young boys from their paintings.

The incessant pounding was finally answered and the door swung open to reveal a slightly irritated red-head who was in the process of picking up her papers which had been scattered all over the floor when the knocking had begun and scared her half to death.

"Ron, why on earth are you making all that racket?" She asked as she finished gathering up her parchments and began to roll them up by class and sticking them into a bag that laid open at her feet.

"Because" Ron said as he and Harry stepped through the portrait and slammed it behind them. "That stupid excuse for a gaurdian left her portrait again and we wanted in."

"Then why didn't you just ask Sir Cadagan to go and find her to let you in? He did it for me not thirty minutes ago." She asked as she hefted the bag onto her shoulder and picked up her book from the table in front of her.

"Because I didn't want to wait. Alright Virginia!" He yelled at her. Shrugging she climbed up the stairs to the girls' dormitories and disapeared from view. Ron didn't notice his best friend staring after his sister with a glare cold enough to freeze a volcano. He plopped down on one of the couches and waited while Harry joined him.

"So what the bloody hell was that about mate? I mean when the hell did she start hanging out with Malfoy. Malfoy of all people. I mean he's her enemy. And Snape. What the hell did he mean by his daughter. You think he's playing some sick joke on us?" Ron looked up exasperated but slightly hopeful by his last idea.

"No Ron," Harry shook his head. "I don't think it's a joke. I remember in one of Hermione's letters at the beginning of the summer she mentioned something about being adopted. But I don't remember her saying anything about Snape. Maybe..." Harry's green eyes glimmered. "Maybe Dumbledore and Snape are trying to protect Hermione from the Death Eaters and Voldemort by saying that Snape is her father. That must be it." He exclaimed excitedly.

"Okay," Ron said slowly. "But that still doesn't explain why Hermione was hanging out with Malfoy."

Harry bit his lip. "Well he's probably just trying to get under our skin and since Hermione is supposed to be the daughter of a Death Eater maybe she is putting up with him for appearances."

Ron nodded emphatically, "That must be it. Hey maye I'm gonna go upstairs and write Hermione an apology stating that we didn't understand the circumstances and that we forgive her. You want me to put in a bit for you too?"

"Sure Ron," Harry said distractedly as he noticed Ginny's shadow coming down from the dormitories. "Go right on ahead. Hey invite her to hang out with us at the first Hogsmeade weekend."

Ron nodded and headed up the stairs not noticing his sister coming down with her bag slung over her shoulder and dragging her trunk behind her.

Straining a bit Ginny dragged her trunk over to the portrait door and pushed it open. This thing is so heavy. Maybe I should just let the house elves move my stuff later on tonight. No, no. Then I wouldn't have my schoolwork with me and all my clothes would be here and the others might ask questions. It will just be better to move it all know. After all, it's really not all that heavy. A voice interrupted her thoughts.

"Where are you going Ginny?"

Frightened Ginny struggled with the trunk trying to get it out the door.

"Ginny, Ginny, Ginny. Where do you think you are going?" The person's hand grabbed hold of her arm and jerked her around. Blue eyes met green and Ginny shuddered.

"Dumbledore has given me permission to room with Hermione since she seems to be having a bit of trouble adjusting to his suprise."

The dark haired boy stood before her unmoving before he slowly nodded, "Fine. But you will owl me the password to your new room before midnight tonight or I will beat you within an inch of your life do you understand me?"

Ginny nodded, scared out of her wits, and drug her trunk through the portrait hole and down the hall leaving a very angry Harry Potter standing in the entrance watching her walk away.

Hermione followed Professor McGonagall through the hallways and byways until they reached her office and sat down in the chair the teacher pointed to. Waiting, wondering if she was going to receive some kind of lecture for harming herself, Hermione bit her bottom lip in anxiety. _If only Snape hadn't blown my high._

"Miss....Snape." Professor McGonagall's lips thinned in disgust. "I am pleased to inform you that you have been chosen as Head girl. At first this year Dumbledore thought it would be best if the Heads stayed in their respective dormitories but after careful consideration he has changed his mind. After dinner I will show you and Mr. Malfoy, the Head boy, and Miss Weasley to your new dorm. Miss Weasley will be staying with you for obvious reasons. It will be up to you and Miss Weasley to inform Mr. Malfoy of the situation however, should you choose to. Of course once the baby is born it will be rather obvious. That is all Miss Snape. You may go and pack your things if you wish. The house elves can move it after dinner for you."

Hermione started to walk out the door just a little bit more than irritated. _ That bloody git. He said this whole parentage thing would stay between the two of us. Now everyone knows._

"Oh by the way, your name is being changed on all of your records." McGonagall's voice rang out from behind Hermione just as she reached the door.

Hermione cringed and then nodded to indicate she had heard her. _ I'll just leave my stuff for the house elves to get. It doesn't even matter anymore. They are too stupid to realize they are being indentured._

Hermione walked down the corridor to the Great Hall trying in vain to avoid anyone she knew and recognized who would want to talk. Once there she saw Ron and Harry trying desperately to get her attention so that she would sit near them at the back of the table. She arched her right eyebrow at them and smirked as she walked past them to the first chair at the front of the table directly next to Ginny who was already waiting with her trunk at the end of the table.

"I take it Professor McGonagall already informed you of our change of residence." Hermione said as she sat down next to her friend who was reading the book from the ride up to Hogwarts.

"Umm. Actually it was Professor Dumbledore who informed me. Right after I woke up to see you and Professor Snape storm out of the medical ward. What was that all about anyways?" the red-head asked as she conjured up a bookmark to hold her place.

"Oh. Snape and the others found out something about me they didn't know and Snape had to attempt to lecture me. His first act of fatherhood. It didn't suit him well."

"I heard Ron and Harry ranting about it while I packed up. They think it is all Dumbledore's idea to protect you from the Death Eaters and You-Know-Who. They think he figures if everyone believes you are the daughter of a pureblood, even Snape, then you will be protected or something. It's funny isn't it." she said as she watched Hermione try so hard not to bust out laughing.

"Oh it's so cute sometimes how their minds work!" Hermione managed to say while she gasped for air.

"Oh Hermione I have a favor to ask." Ginny said while she tucked her book away into the bag on top of her trunk.

"Anything Ginny. After all you are making me an auntie." Hermione whispered as Parvati and Lavendar sat down across from them at the table.

"Well it's really two favors." Ginny said anxiously as the rest of the students began to file into the hall. "First I wanted to know if you will help me study this year. Dumbledore has agreed to let me take my O.W.L.S. during the Christmas Break and providing I pass them then next semester I will have to play catch up on what you all are learning this semester plus next semester so that I can graduate with you."

"Ginny you know I would love to help. On one condition." Hermione said making sure that the other two girls were still caught up in their little gossip session.

"What?" Ginny asked apprehensively.

"When we graduate from Hogwarts you and the baby come live with me."

Ginny smiled with tears in her eyes. "I would like that very much."

"What's the second thing?" Hermione asked as the food began to fill up the middle of the table.

"Oh, um. I need you to help me research custody law and things of that nature. I don't want the father, and I use that term loosely here, to ever have any rights to the baby."

Hermione looked at her friend and saw the determination in her eyes, "Of course Ginny. If it's that important to you I will help you research it and I will even help you file the paperwork and everything."

The red-head looked at her friend relieved, "Thank you." The two girls ate in companiable silence waiting for dinner to be over so they could go to their new common room. Finally Dumbledore stood up at the high table.

"Quiet. Quiet down everyone. It seems I was remiss in one of my announcements yesterday as I forgot to announce the Head boy and girl. Head Boy this year is Draco Malfoy of Slytherin and Head Girl is Hermione Snape, formerly Hermione Granger, of Gryffindor." Gasps were heard all around the vast room but Dumbledore continued on as if it were still as quiet as a tomb. "If you have any issues or problems regarding school or your private life I urge you to go to them for counsel. That is all. You may go to your dormitories now."

Dumbledore waited until everyone left the Great Hall before motioning for the three students to follow him. He led them down a corridor that was very familiar. As they passed a large grotesque statue of a gargoyle they realized that this was the hall Dumbledore's office was on. As far as they knew it was the only room on this hall. Dumbledore stopped at the end of the hall in front of a statue of a fairy lounging on a mushroom. He turned to the students.

"Your password is 'Fae'." The moment he spoke it the fairy stood up and giggled and suddenly a door apeared in the wall where before there had only been stone. "Have a good evening." He said as he walked off back the way he came.

Walking in the three students didn't even really take in the splendor around them as they were mainly focused on the object hanging on the wall in front of them. A large mirror stood there taller than Draco by at least a foor and wider than all three of them. Attatched to the side of its gilded frame was a note.

_'This mirror is actually a portal that will transport you to any room in the school. Use it as you would the floo network. You can also merely watch what is happening in a room as well. However, bathrooms and bedrooms are off-limits.'_

After the three of them played with the mirror for a few minutes tracking all the students making out in empty classrooms and then watching Ms. Norris be chased out of the dungeons by Snape, Draco decided to speak up.

"Alright. I don't want to sound like an ass but will somebody tell me why a sixth year is rooming in with the Heads?"

Hermione bit her lip and looked and Ginny who nodded giving Hermione permission to tell him. "Ginny is seven months pregnant."

Draco's mouth hung open for a few minutes until finally his mind came up with the one question that neither Hermione or the teachers thought to ask. "Who's the father?"

Ginny took a deep breath and undid the concealment charm, which not only concealed her expanded waist line but also all the bruises and cuts that covered her body. Hermione gasped while Draco clenched his fists in anger.

"Ginny, tell me who did this. I know we haven't been the best of friends. Hell we haven't even been friends but I swear to Hell and back again that I will kick the person's arse." Draco said through gritted teeth.

Ginny lowered her eyes and gathered her courage before she had enough nerve to look the other two in the eyes. "Harry. Harry is the father and he did this to me."

**To Be Continued in Chapter 11...**


	11. Chapter 11

**NOTE: IF YOU HAVE A SENSITIVE NATURE PLEASE HAVE TISSUE READY BEFORE YOU GET TO THE END OF THE CHAPTER-THIS IS FOR YOUR OWN GOOD.**

**Chapter 11...**

**-------------------------------------------------------------------**

That night a momentous alliance was made and a deadly pact was formed against the boy wonder. It took all of both girls' strength to keep the blonde Slytherin from going out to pound the, in his words, 'scar-head who lived to be a pain in the ass'.

The three decided to keep the information of Harry's impending parentage and prison time to themselves for the moment, so that there would be no interference with Ginny's custody hearing. However, they did make sure to document, in both muggle and wizarding photographs, all the bruises and cuts on Ginny's body and then she took pictures of the entries in her diaries which told the exact dates of almost each and every beating.

Hermione knew that should the council insist upon knowing the father's identity, they would not just take Ginny's word against the illustrious boy-who-lived, they would draw it out until there was absolutely no other possibility. So the three of them had to make sure that all their bases were covered so that there was no way that Harry could ever have access to Ginny or the baby.

Midnight came around and the three of them were still sitting around the living room each absorbed in a book. Ginny was laying down on one of the overstuffed couches with a pillow propped up under her feet to help the swelling go down while reading a book on baby names. Occasionally she would place a mark beside a name with her quill before flipping the page. Hermione sat cross-legged on the floor with at least four wizarding-law books in front of her spread out on the coffee table. She was scribbling down notes from all four as fast as she could while trying to keep them all neat and organized. Pausing she flipped the last page of one of the smaller books and smiled with grim satisfaction as she wrote something down at the bottom of the sheet of parchment and then closed the book with a thud. A few yards away from the two girls, over at the dining table, Draco was filling out all the official paperwork that needed to be completed as soon as possible so Ginny could file her case before the child's birth. He was writing painstakingly slow so that no one could misinterpret any of the words he was writing. He wanted it to look precise and most importantly, legible, and since he didn't have very good handwriting to begin with he was being extra careful.

The loud chime from the clock above the dining table jarred Draco from his precision and he hastily blotted up the spot of ink that had fallen when he was startled before he looked up to glare at the clock for interrupting him. _Midnight? We've been at this that long? Well it is time to call in the towel for a break._ Draco stood up, and leaving his project right where it was, went over to the couch and plucked the baby names book out of the younger red-head's hands.

"Time to go to bed ladies. I am sure you need some sleep before class in a little less than eight hours."

Ginny slowly nodded and then reached for her book, "I promise to go to bed. I just want to mark my page."

Draco shook his head. "Now why don't I believe you? I'll mark your page and put it over here on the table and just so you know, it would not be wise to attempt to make a grab for it in the middle of the night, I am going to put a spell on it so that if anyone touches this book before 7am they will be instantly petrified until I take the spell off. Understand?" he asked Ginny as she paused at her door with a defeated look on her face.

"Fine." she mumbled as she slipped into her room and fell down on her bed exhausted and defeated.

Draco set the book down near where he had been working and completed the spell he had mentioned and turned to go into his room when he noticed that Hermione still hadn't moved. "Hey, Snape. When I said it was time to go to bed-I meant everyone. Even you."

She didn't move or even acknowledge he had said anything. She just continued to read a long paragraph in the thickest book on her table while sucking on the end of her quill with an intent look on her face. "Yes." she mumbled. "That will do nicely. Even they can't ignore their own rules."

Draco moved forward and glanced over her shoulder at the notes the brunette had taken down. _Past Precedent. Examples: Lestrange vs. McNott; Snape vs. McGonagall; Black vs. Godfrey; Lineaus vs. Ocianea; McCloud vs. Johnson. Ahhh, she found cases pertaining to this type of situation. Wait a minute...Snape vs. McGonagall? When have those two bloodlines ever mixed? Never mind that right now,_ his body told him,_ go to bed._

Draco tapped Hermione on the shoulder.

"What!"

"Time to go to bed. We've got Transfiguration in eight hours."

"I know. I just need to finish this chapter."

Draco stared in shock as she turned the page to take more notes. "No." he said grabbing her by the arm. "Bed. Now." Roughly he shoved her in the direction of her bedroom and opened the door for her. Shoving her into the room towards her bed he stared into her now angry eyes.

"You are not my father Draco Malfoy!" she yelled at him. "You can't tell me what to do!"

"Fine. I'm not your dad." Draco spit out. "But I do know him." He turned towards the mirror. "Would you like me to go get him and have him tell you to go to bed?"

Hermione practically seethed with her impatience with the blonde Slytherin who had taken her away from her studying and then had the nerve to try to involve her rather absent father. "I should have known you wouldn't have changed that much Malfoy. You are still a git."

He smiled. "Yes I am. And you are still an insufferable know-it-all. And I need my beauty sleep and that means I need to know you are asleep so that in the morning you can attempt to outwit me in class. Because this year Hermione I am giving you a run for your money. I've read all the class books and extra credit nonsense. This year my grades will beat yours."

Draco slammed the door in her face laughing at her astonished expression. _Priceless. Now I really better get to bed or I will look like hell in the morning. _Draco extinguished the candles that had been lighting up the common room and headed off to bed. Tomorrow was going to be interesting indeed.

**----------------------------------------------------------------------**

Draco's alarm went off at 7am sharp and after he went ahead and dressed for the day he walked into the living room to find Hermione standing in shock at the petrified form of one pregnant red-head. Draco laughed slightly and walked over reversing the spell. _She just couldn't stay away. It's just a name. I mean, come on, she's still got two months to choose one. Plenty of time and yet she just couldn't stay away for one night. One single night._

"Why in bloody hell would you do that Malfoy?" Hermione shouted at him as he spread some strawberry jelly on his toast. "She could have been hurt. You have no idea what that spell could have done to the baby! Are you insane!"

"Don't yell at him Hermione." Ginny said as she walked over to the cupboard looking sheepish. "It's my own fault. Draco put the spell on the book to get me to go to bed and I did...but when I got up about thirty minutes ago to pee I just couldn't resist. And therefore I became like statue. And," she continued as she stole a bite of one of Draco's pieces of toast, "you of all people should know that that charm wouldn't hurt the baby in any possible way."

Draco who had been about to respond to the irate tantrum the head girl had been throwing instead just nodded along with what the younger girl was saying. It seemed that Miss Hermione Snape was not a morning person.

"Well seeing as how I have just had to forfeit the rest of my breakfast to a hungry pregnant woman who will most likely eat anything else I decide to make I will take my leave of you both and go eat in the Great Hall with the rest of my kind."

Gathering up his books for his first two classes he smiled and made a gallant exit out the mirror with another parting bit of news.

"I will be back during lunch in order to finish the papers and then they will be ready to be sent in order to be processed. Farewell my fare ladies."

"You know Mione, he's kinda nice." Ginny said as she pulled on her concealing robes over her head. "I mean he is helping us with the case and I don't know. I get this feeling that he's not exactly what he always seemed to be, you know? I mean, Harry and Ron aren't how they seem to be to everyone else."

Hermione's lips set in a thin line as she buttoned up the back of her friend's robes for her. _Maybe...but maybe not. Even Harry and Ron didn't change over night. It built up over the years until it blossomed into this stunning bit of shite. Losing everything you love and believing it was all your fault can change a person. But into a rapist?_ another part of her mind argued._ That trait doesn't just show up. It's planned. Methodical. Don't go around excusing Harry for what he's done. After all, that's disloyal to Ginny and Ginny is the victim here or do I need to remind you of what he's done to her. The image of Ginny's bruised and cut body from the night before appeared in Hermione's mind and the softer side of her gave in and allowed the darker, edgier side to take over. Okay. Harry and Ron deserve a fate worse than death. But not now, it's too soon. Wait for the birth. Save the baby and Ginny first. Revenge second. Remember that. But Draco...he just didn't turn over a new leaf overnight. It doesn't work that way._

Hermione's brow furrowed while her mind raced with a single thought that threw her for a loop._ Maybe he didn't change at all, maybe it's us. Maybe we are the ones that changed overnight._

"Yea...nice. Maybe too nice." she said biting her lip as her thoughts continued to fly around in her head unchecked by her usually reasonable mind.

Ginny looked over her shoulder at her friend. "What do you mean?"

"Ginny when have you ever known a Slytherin, or any male for that matter, to do something without getting something else in return?"

"Never." Ginny replied quietly.

"He's got something up his sleeve." Hermione said as she picked up her books and walked over to the mirror. "And I am going to find out what."

"Hey Mione. Do you believe in dreams?" Ginny asked right before her friend disappeared through the mirror.

"No why?" the brunette asked as she turned back around to look at her friend slightly confused.

"Nothing. No reason," Ginny said quickly. "Just wondering."

"Ginny if you had a bad dream I wouldn't really worry about it. No one is going to die at Hogwarts no matter what that old bat Trelawney keeps on predicting. You would think she'd give it up." Hermione said before she exited the mirror.

Ginny bit her lip, "But I didn't die in Hogwarts." she whispered to herself. "I died under it."

Turning to the coffee table where Hermione had left her quill and parchment from the night before Ginny selected a clean piece of parchment and began to write. _Just in case_, she told herself. '_Last Will and Testament of Virginia Weasley'. Merlin I hope it doesn't come to this. Please forgive me Mione. But I think this is right._

**-----------------------------------------------------------------------**

The moment she walked into the Great Hall all eyes turned toward her in curiosity. Everyone had heard Dumbledore's speech the night before and finally that morning the change in Hermione's last name had registered in their dim witted minds. Hermione, the book-worm know-it-all, was a Snape. Now that meant she either was born a Snape or she married a Snape. As she walked past the long Gryffindor table to where Ron and Harry were sitting several people glanced down at her hand. No ring. That means the first rumor had to be true. But the only living person of the Snape family line was their Professor. Several Ravenclaws, who were smart enough to realize this, turned their heads back and forth between the two. No resemblance what-so-ever.

Hermione sat down next to the two boys who used to be her friends and attempted to act like nothing was wrong. Like Ron wasn't such an ass for not realizing what was happening around him and being such a jealous git when he has no right to be one. Like Harry wasn't beating her best friend and raping her over the summer. Like he didn't think the world revolved around him. It wasn't easy at all in the least to start up a conversation about something boring so she really wouldn't have to talk to them at all when for the first time in their history together they wanted to talk about her. _I'm lucky I woke up early enough to get in a bit of a high._ She rubbed the inside of her elbow unconsciously. _I'll need it to deal with them._

Harry leaned forward conspiratorially from across the table. "Look, Mione we know about Dumbledore's idea."

"Bloody brilliant if you ask me." Ron interrupted. A stern look from Harry shut him up.

Hermione leaned into the conversation as well, making it appear to the rest of the school as if the Golden Trio was back to its old tricks of making mischief, "What idea are you talking about?" _Oh gods I hate them._

Harry smiled back at her. "You being Snape's daughter. It's brilliant. This way during the war you are a half-blood and not a walking target as a mudblood."

"You've become a decent wizard." Ron added in a hushed voice as if it were all very secret.

Hermione leaned forward and stood up at the same time. "Let me set you straight on something Potter! This is no idea of Dumbledore's. My father is Severus Snape. And you! Ronald! Now I am a decent wizard! Because of my blood? I was a better witch in first year than you could ever hope of becoming!" _How stupid can they be? Thinking that Dumbledore would lie. When would that old coot actually utter something other than the truth. And besides why would he need to protect me? He knows I can take care of myself. I always have._

By now every pair of eyes in the entire Hall including the teachers up on the dais and Ginny who had just walked through the mirror were directed on the young brunette who was yelling at the two boys at the Gryffindor table. They watched as she stepped over the bench and stood in the aisle while the two boys immediately tried to make amends. When they realized it wasn't going to work Ron blew up. He began a tirade against her and her father calling them vassals of You-Know-Who.

The entire hall so was so intent on watching what was happening on the right side of the Hall that no one noticed the blonde Slytherin stand up in anger on the left. They watched as Hermione whipped out her wand, so fast that it almost just seemed to appear in her hand, and then mumble a spell that none of them had heard of. They watched as Ginny reached Hermione just as her brother flew against the wall and was being shackled there, hanging over twelve feet above the ground. Everyone expected Ginny to do something but no one expected what she did.

Smiling she mimicked Hermione's spell and wand movements and soon Harry, who had been attempting to rescue his friend, was hanging right alongside him. They watched as Hermione whispered something to the delicate red-head beside her who nodded and then turned towards the teachers where Snape was smiling proudly and Professor McGonagall was just starting to stand up sputtering in shock and anger.

"Professor Dumbledore. Ginny and I would like to be resorted. Gryffindor doesn't suit us anymore."

The entire hall fell quiet and not a single breath was taken while Dumbledore nodded his normally twinkling blue eyes appearing empty and dank.

"It will be done."

He motioned off to his side and Professor Flitwick scurried out of the Hall as Professor McGonagall strode to the spot where the girls were standing and gathered her wits. After all she was a Professor and the Deputy Headmistress, it would not do for her to look flustered or ignorant in front of the student body.

"Reverse your spell now and let them down." she whispered furiously to the two girls. They glared back at her and Hermione even dared to laugh.

"Reverse it yourself." she said to her in a voice that wasn't really considered loud but in the absence of noise in the Great Hall it reverberated all throughout the room and everyone, of course, heard it.

Draco decided now was the opportune moment to get involved so that the two girls didn't get expelled. He pointed his wand and whispered the counter to the dark spell the two girls had performed and watched as the two boys' shackles opened and they fell to the floor with a thud. _Where did she learn that spell. It's not in any book that you can get here at Hogwarts and I doubt that she has ever been to Knockturn Alley._

Professor McGonagall looked at the Slytherin with surprise written all over her face before she could school her expression into one a bit more acceptable. _Why is Draco Malfoy standing up for two Gryffindors? Especially two that he has expressed his hatred towards more than once._

"Thank you Mr. Malfoy. Fifty points to Slytherin. And you two," she said staring pointedly at the two girls in front of her. "Fifty points from Gryffindor. Each." Her favorite student's eyes bored into hers and she felt a definitive sadness envelop her. _She had such potential. What could Potter and Weasley do that would turn her against them like this? This is not the way it is supposed to be. They need each other to defeat the Dark Lord in the end. What will happen now?_

The entire Gryffindor table groaned and then shouted as outrage as Professor Flitwick ran back into the Hall with the Sorting Hat. Even if Hermione and Ginny were sorted into another House the Gryffindor's would still have to pay the price for an act against two of their own. Professor McGonagall realized her mistake but Dumbledore raised his hand before she could speak.

"The points stand as they are. The act was committed before they were resorted, therefore, Gryffindor House must pay the price for the actions of two of its members. Miss Snape, Miss Weasley, please come forward and be resorted."

The clock chimed its warning of only ten minutes for everyone to get to their next class but no one moved a muscle. Even the ever-so-studious Ravenclaws sat watching the proceedings with deadly intent. No one knew exactly what was going on but one thing did unite all the Houses. No one wanted a pair of girls to be sorted into their House with that type of attitude towards the boy who would lead them out of the war and into peace. Well, maybe not all the Houses.

If anyone had bothered to look over at the Slytherin table they would have seen the smug expressions and proud faces the students wore. They wanted the girls. It was beyond a shadow of a doubt that they would get them too. At least in their minds.

Gryffindor House was united in the hatred being directed towards the two girls, and having picked up their favorite classmates from up off the floor, they could only sit and glare at the two girls while the teachers watched over the process.

At the table next to them the Hufflepuffs trembled at the thought of such apparently evil girls being sorted into their House. Secretly however, several of them wondered at the thought of what they could learn from the two girls who had just flouted authority so easily. But then again they had always been followers so they continued to tremble along with the rest of their House.

Next to them the Ravenclaw table was torn. Such brilliant minds would make a great asset to their House. But the violence that they could see simmering beneath the girls' surfaces was not exactly something they were prepared to deal with. In the end they wanted them, though they would never admit it, the girls were powerful and that was what Ravenclaws were all about. Power. But deep down they feared the power the two girls could wield and so they fought with themselves on the subject as the two stepped up next to the raggedy old hat on the stool.

Professor Flitwick stood on top of another stool he had pulled up and motioned for Hermione to sit down. The old hat had barely touched her silky brown hair when it screamed out what everyone had been waiting for, "SLYTHERIN!"

Smiling she stood up and held out her hand to Ginny. Everyone watched as the new Slytherin helped her friend up onto the stool and no one noticed the blonde Slytherin again as he got up from the table and walked forward to the end waiting to escort the two girls to their new home. The hat rested on Ginny's head a moment arguing with her over the fact that it felt the presence of two minds, one Slytherin and one Ravenclaw, finally Ginny mentally screamed at the stupid hat that she was pregnant and to go with the stronger mind presence. Giving up the hat shouted out the final choice, "SLYTHERIN!"

Ecstatic shouts of joy and pride rang out from the Slytherin table as Draco stepped forward to lead the two girls over to their new table.

Up at the table on the dais Dumbledore closed his eyes as if in pain even as Snape's face broke out into something no one had ever seen, a smile. Professor Flitwick looked confused and glanced over at McGonagall who had just reached the table and now looked as if someone had died. Firenze, the centaur who taught one of the divination classes, nodded as if he had been expecting this to happen. The entire school sat in shock and none of the teachers were in any position to lead them.

The three students were about to sit down when they glanced at the clock and changed their minds and instead walked out the doors to their class which had started exactly five minutes before.

**-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

Draco and Hermione were a mere three doors away from the Transfiguration classroom when they realized Ginny wasn't with them. Hermione smacked herself on the forehead, much to the amusement of Draco, and turned back around in the direction they had just come from.

"Ginny probably needed to throw up. I'll go get her. You go on ahead. We don't need McGonagall taking off points for all of us." _Besides_, she thought, _Ginny doesn't need to be going anywhere alone until this situation with the baby is taken care of. Harry could hurt her...hell what am I saying, after that stunt in the Hall he will definitely try to hurt her._

Draco nodded and headed towards the classroom with a parted piece of advice, "Hey, be careful. If you aren't here in seven minutes I am coming after the two of you. And don't think I won't go in a 'girls' bathroom."

He disappeared through the empty doorway and Hermione turned around racking her brain to figure out which bathroom was closest. Moaning Myrtle's bathroom was only one corridor over. Making up her mind Hermione started to walk in that direction when something about how quiet the corridor was instinctively told her to hurry up. _Oh Merlin, please Ginny. Why didn't I listen to you this morning? I promise to listen to every single detail of your dream later as long as you are okay. Ginny be okay._ Frowning in confusion she began to pick up speed until she was running down the hall to the open door. _Dear Merlin let me be wrong. Let Ginny just be throwing up the toast she stole from Draco. Draco. When did he become Draco? Bloody hell Hermione, stay focused on Ginny. She's more important._ She practically slid to a halt as she entered the bathroom and found everything as it should be except the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets was opened and there was the hole that led to the catacombs beneath the castle. _I was right. Why do I always have to be right? I hate this. Don't worry Ginny I'm coming._

Making up her mind she recited a spell she had learned over the summer and sent Professor Snape, her father she reminded herself, a mental message of the open chamber and her going down after Ginny and Harry. Then as an afterthought she sent him an image of Ginny standing before her and Draco with all the bruises and cuts showing and repeating the same words over and over again. "Harry. Harry did this to me." Then taking a deep breath she jumped into the black hole after her friend. Praying that she wasn't too late. _Oh gods don't let me be too late._

**-------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

Professor Snape stood in the middle of his classroom breathing down the neck of a first-year who looked ready to cry when a mental message shot through his mind accompanied by an image of a battered Ginny Weasley.Instinctively he knew it was from his daughter. He stood still waiting for the rest of the message and then, there it was, the bathroom haunted by the student from fifty years ago. The entrance to the Chamber of Secrets. _But_, his mind told him, _that entrance was sealed. By Dumbledore himself. Over three years ago. How could it be open_? Instinctively he shut that part of his mind down and stormed out of the classroom leaving over twenty students confused and relieved at the pardon they had been given somehow.

He strode angrily and anxiously to the Deputy Headmistresses' room where she was in the middle of a lecture on how to turn one living creature into another. Most of the Gryffindors he noted looked a little uncomfortable with the snakes coiled up in front of them while the Slytherins on the other hand, well just take Draco for instance. His green mambo was snaking its way up his arm and draping itself over the boy's shoulders. Snape caught himself just before he smiled. That would make it twice in one day. Not good. Must keep face straight. He told himself as he cleared his throat so the other teacher would notice him.

"What can I do for you Severus?" she asked with an exasperated tone.

He overlooked her tone and glanced around the room to confirm his suspicions as he spoke. "I have just received a telepathic message that one of our students is in danger from another and I came to confirm it." Just as he suspected three empty desks. Two of them on either side of Draco Malfoy and the other beside the walking disaster that was the youngest male of the Weasley family.

"And now I have." he said as he walked back towards the entrance. "Malfoy come with me. I'll need your help."

McGonagall hurried after him and told him rather loudly and rudely. "None of my students are in any harm Severus you can see that for yourself."

"Yes." He said turning around hissing at her. "None of the students in your classroom are in danger but what about the three that are conveniently missing. The three who were involved in a very public altercation this morning in the Hall are now not in your class. Strange how you don't think that any of them, especially Miss Weasley with her delicate situation, would not be in any harm." He said scathingly before he turned and led Draco running down the hall to the bathroom where Hermione had sent him the message.

Professor McGonagall stood there shocked in her emerald robes. She had been so distraught over what might happen to the future now that Hermione and Ginny had left Harry and Ron to themselves that she hadn't bothered to pay attention to the present. _If anything happens to them I will never forgive myself_. She turned to the nearest student and told them to go to the Headmaster's office and tell him that three students were missing and that Professor Snape felt they were in danger.

**---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

Hermione slid down the tunnel and fell rather unladylike into the pile of crunched bones that cushioned the fall into the catacombs.

"Lumos" she whispered lighting the area up so that she could at least see where she was going. She slowly turned in a circle. There were thirteen tunnels. Nothing differentiated any one from the others. Except. She crept forward to the tunnel that was directly to her left. A small serpent was cut into the rock above the tunnel.

_He wouldn't be stupid enough to take her back to the basilisk's lair would he? Yes he would._ Hermione thought as she noticed the ribbon, with which Ginny tied her hair back with that morning, lying on the rock floor a few feet into the tunnel. Using a spell that Tonks had taught her, the summer that she had stayed at the headquarters for the Order of the Phoenix, she marked the tunnel with a red glowing X.

Quickly she jogged down the dark crevice careful to avoid the holes in the ground and the jagged edges of jutting rocks from the sides of the tunnel. Finally after what felt like an hour she came out of the tunnel into a cavernous room with a deep pool on either side of the stone walkway in front of her that led her gaze up to the two figures at the far end of the room.

One figure was lying on the ground struggling to move away from the one who was standing with their wand pointed at the figure on the floor. Whoever it was standing up was definitely enjoying whatever spell it was they had the other under. Hermione cast an invisibility charm on herself an ran down the stone path until she reached the two figures and did her best to control her anger but to no avail.

"Expelliarmus!" she screamed at the figure standing watching with pride as Harry's wand flew out of his hand and over to the edge of the pool where it conveniently fell in. She slowly circled the black-haired boy until she was next to her red-headed friend who was gasping for air on the ground gripping her stomach.

"Ginny are you okay?" she whispered as she kept her gaze on the boy who was standing thirty feet from her looking pretty smug. Ginny answered her with another hacking cough, which when Hermione glanced down at her friend, she could see was full of blood. _Oh no...no...no...oh Ginny...I'm so sorry. I didn't get here soon enough._

"Ginny don't worry. I sent for help. They'll be here soon." she said as she stroked her friend's hair back from her clammy skin. "It'll be okay."

"No, Mione it won't." Ginny whispered as she gripped her friend's hand. "I love you Mione. Remember that. Please." her voice became fainter as she struggled for breath.

"Oh gods Ginny I'm so sorry. It's all my fault."

"Not your fault." Ginny panted as she grew weaker. "You helped me stand up to him. You helped me be strong." she bit her lip in pain. "You'll teach her to be strong now." Ginny closed her eyes after she whispered those last few words to her best friend_. I love you Mione. Take care of my baby._

Hermione watched, her heart ripping in two, as her best friend closed her eyes and didn't take another breath. _Oh gods...Ginny_. Tears flowed down her face unchecked as she clutched her friend's body to her and sobbed.

Harry watched his two former friends mockingly. "Aww...did poor Ginny die?" He laughed, "Such a waste of a good body."

Hermione raised her tear streaked face and looked at him feeling the anger and hate swell up inside her. "You bloody prat! You murdered her. And guess what! Not even your precious Dumbledore can save you now! You performed an Unforgivable...Yes I can recognize the after effects of a Cruciatious Curse. You will be condemned."

"You forget Mione," the boy sneered. "I'm the boy-who-lived. No one will believe you."

Hermione shook her head angrily. "What are you talking about? You are down here, not in class, and are discovered with a dying student with the spell still on your wand which is at the bottom of that pool!"

"Wanna bet." he said silkily. Mere seconds later a strange hissing sound came from his lips and Hermione watched as a ripple began in what had once been the still water of the pool. She watched dread growing in her entire body as the snake slithered over to the boy with his wand in his mouth. Reaching down he plucked his wand from the snake's hold and laughing directly to her face he performed the invisibility charm and made his way out of the cavern directly past Professor Snape who had just arrived with Draco along with Dumbledore and Filch directly on their heels.

Hermione cradled Ginny's head in her lap as they all rushed over and let the numbness take over her. She allowed them to levitate Ginny's body away from her and back through the jungle of tunnels to the school and Madam Pomfrey. She allowed her father to pick her up and carry her to the infirmary. She didn't even notice as Draco held her hand while they waited for Madam Pomfrey to try to save the baby.

Finally Madam Pomfrey came back in the room her expression grim. "I'm sorry to announce that Miss Weasley is dead. I could not help her. She had too many wounds...both old and new to be able to heal her. The baby is fine. I have her in one of the incubaters that we had in storage. She weights five pounds nine ounces is fifteen inches long and has her mother's hair and eyes. I will be keeping her here until I am notified by the Ministry who is the legal gaurdian of the child. I assume no one knows who the father is?" Her eyes alighted on Hermione who managed to come out of her stupor long enough to shake her head.

Draco decided to play along, it was in the best interests of the child after all, and gave the nurse the answer she was looking for, "We asked her but she wouldn't tell."

Biting her bottom lip Hermione asked the nurse a favor, "Can I see the baby please?" Her voice trembled with her being on the verge of tears again.

Madam Pomfrey nodded, "Of course Miss Snape. Go right on in." The nurse held Draco back as Hermione slipped into the room. "One at a time Mister Malfoy. One at a time."

Draco went back to his seat and looked at Professor Snape. "Do you think she'll be okay?"

Snape opened his mouth but no sound came out. Collecting his thoughts he tried again. "I believe so, after all, if she wasn't it would be like failing wouldn't it? Letting the person who did this to Ginny win. And Hermione has never failed. She doesn't know how."

Draco nodded repeating to himself over and over in his mind. _'She won't fail.'_

Professor Dumbledore sat down heavily in one of the chairs and sighed. _It is beginning_.

**-------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

Hermione walked across the room biting back tears as she passed the figure lying prone on one of the beds covered by a white linen sheet. She let out a sigh of relief as she reached the other end of the room and gazed at the tiny baby wrapped in all the blankets. _She looks nothing like Harry. She's a minature of Ginny._

Hermione smiled softly and conjured up a rocking chair. Placing it next to the bed the baby was laying in she sat down and picked up the swaddled infant. Holding her close to her chest she gently rocked back and forth in the chair and sang a tune she remembered from her childhood. One that her mother swore she had never sung to her.

'_Beautiful Dreamer_

_Wake unto me_

_Starlight and dewdrops_

_Are awaiting thee_

_Sounds of the rude world_

_Heard in the day_

_Led by the moonlight_

_Have all passed away_

_Beautiful dreamer_

_Queen of my song_

_List' while I woo thee_

_With soft melody_

_Gone are the cares of_

_Life's busy throng_

_Beautiful dreamer_

_Awake unto me_

_Beautiful dreamer_

_Awake unto me.'_

**------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

The strands of a lullaby reached the ears of those waiting in the other room. Reaching over and pulling aside the curtain that separated the two rooms Madam Pomfrey and the others watched as the burnette gently rocked they infant back and forth singing the lullaby to her in a gentle voice.

The door to the infirmary opened and Arthur Weasley strode in along with his wife Molly and four members of the Ministry including Cornelius Fudge. The newcomers stared at the suspended curtain and the body covered in white just past it to the young girl rocking a bundle of blankets back and forth with a haunting melody coming forth from her lips. Molly Weasley burst into sobs and Dumbldore comforted her with a hug and motioned for them all to go into the office and not disturb the young girl with the baby.

Once in the office everyone began talking. After a few minutes Dumbldore finally managed to achieve some kind of order by sending Draco with two of the members of the ministry to search through Ginny's things for anything that might have mentioned who the father was or who she had wanted to take care of her child should she be unable. Then he tried to counsel the Weasleys who were asking how this had happened while she was at school and how come he didn't prevent it. Countering their arguement against him he asked them how it was that they didn't know that their daughter was in her third trimester of pregnancy.

Molly Weasley had just begun to cry again when the door opened once more and Draco came back inside with the two ministry officials whose faces were pure white as they handed a long piece of parchment to the Minister along with two sealed letters and a red journal.

Fudge looked at them unconcerned, "What did you find out?"

One of the men sat down and slumped putting his head in his hands while the other spoke up. "That piece of parchment you hold is her last will and testament. The ink is barely dry so she must have wrote it this morning. In it she leaves her daughter and all of her belongings to one Hermione Snape, formerly Hermione Granger, and if Hermione should choose not to take care of her child or not be able to then Draco Malfoy is named gaurdian, then Severus Snape. Her diary explains who the father is and exactly how he came to be that and all the things he did to her. I think that should remain up to your discrepency sir on whether you want that information released. I marked the most important page."

Molly Weasley grabbed the journal out of Fudge's hands and opened it to the marked page. Reading quickly she began to sob again and dropping the journal she wept in sorrow for her daughter. _Oh merlin, I never knew. I never noticed. She must have tried to tell me so many times. I never listened._ Arthur picked up the journal, read a few lines and then handed the book back to Fudge while he closed his eyes and comforted his wife.

"If possible I would like to read the entire journal at a later date." he asked in a pained tone as he rubbed his wife's back.

Fudge read the page and nodded. "That's fine Arthur. Madam Pomfrey." he called. When the nurse arrived in the room he continued, "It is the decision of the Ministry that Ginny Weasely's last will and testament stands and the guardian of the afore-mentioned child is Hermione Snape. She will decide who, if anyone, is allowed to see the child and how often. This journal may be read in its entirety by both Dumbldore and Miss Weasley's parents and Miss Snape, however outside of those persons no one is to know its contents. Now if you'll excuse me I must take my leave."

He walked out of the office accompanied by the two officials who still looked sick to their stomachs at what they had read leaving behind the others to grieve.

Dumbledore stood and addressed the parents of the student who lay dead just beyond the curtain. "Arthur, Molly. Come with me now, you may stay here for a few nights while Ginny is made ready for burial and I am sure you would like to notify her brothers as soon as possible. They also will have a place here for as long as they need." Nodding the two stood up and followed Dumbledore out of the infirmary.

At the door he paused however and turned back to the three remaining people in the office. "Mr. Malfoy you and Miss Snape are hereby excused from classes for the next two weeks, however, any assignments will be due the same as always. Severus, you will teach them any at-hand lessons that they would learn during this time and you are excused from your teaching duties. I myself will substitute. And Poppy. Do not let anyone in to see the child without Miss Snape's explicit permission. Even a member of the Weasley family."

Professor Snape and Draco went back out to the waiting room and sat down on one of the benches watching quietly through the gossamer curtains as the young woman rocked the sleeping infant back and forth in her arms. Madam Pomfrey went over to where Ginny's body was lying and began to prepare her for burial while listening to the song that Hermione was now singing to the child.

'_When the sun goes down,_

_And the moon comes up,_

_And the stars twinkle in the skies._

_Then, my little one,_

_It's time for bed,_

_And time to close your eyes;_

_For the fairies wait_

_Till you're fast asleep,_

_To bring sweet dreams to you._

_And the moon and stars_

_Through the windows peep_

_To see what the fairies will do...'_

**------------------------------------------------------------------------**

**Continued in Chapter 12...**

Author's Note:

Alright now everyone should be happy with this chapter's length. It's over 12 pages in word. I'll update as soon as possible but I give fair warning that a LOT is going on right now and it might be a few weeks.

Next, I realize some people will be mad at the fact that Ginny died. Yes it is sad but necessary to the plotline. Besides could you really see that going any other way?

Oh and a small disclaimer.

The first lullaby is entitled Beautiful dreamer by Stephan C. Foster and the second lullaby is entitled Fairies Wait by Irmengarde C. Horn.


End file.
